Reading Roundup - Week Eight

This week I devoured a book.
I didn't actually eat it, but I did read it, and read it, and read it until it was all gone.
I couldn't stop.
It was The Glass Castle (14).
I really liked it quite a bit, and I'm glad I didn't turn it back into my committee chair without finishing it.
See, I had a meeting on Friday, but I hadn't finished the book.
You know how it is when you're "forced" to read something.
Seriously, though, how was I forced?
No one was holding a gun to my head, I asked for this book, and actually sent someone over to the office to pick it up for me (I love our student workers, I do), so it was all voluntary.
It just becomes that feeling of having to read something because there's an obligation attached to it.
I don't like obligations, apparently.
And authority - I have a problem with that too.
Now we actually chose a different book for the freshman class than this one, but I was going to play off on conveniently forgetting the book at home.
No one asked for it anyway.
Good thing.
I think Jennifer summed up the story perfectly - a dysfunctional family that still loves each other deeply.
And boy were they dysfunctional.
I also read Eggs in Purgatory (15), first in the new series by Laura Childs. It was a cute little mystery, fulfilling the obligatory cozy requirements in one book - knitting, books, and a restaurant. Plus recipes!
Gee, it's almost like she planned it that way.
The writing was better than I expected, and the plot was well-developed, but why can't we have some characters who don't have perfect lives, or lots of money. How about some mystery where the protagonist is a high school dropout and lives in a trailer (down by the river).
I suppose I'll just have to write that one myself, and I think I'll name her Dawn.
The good thing about having so many books going at once is that I'm finally able to finish some, and one that I just finished is Haunted (16).
I had seen the movie, which stars Aidan Quinn and a young Kate Beckinsale, so I knew how the book would end, but I wanted to read it anyway.
It's a well-written ghost story, that didn't cause me any alarm, but then I had seen the movie.
I couldn't find this book in our library, so here's another reason to love Inter-library loan since this time the book came to me from the Cherry Hill Public Library.
Man I just love that.
Now, did anyone watch the Oscars last night?
Of these three women, who do you think had the best gown?
Jennifer Aniston






Angelina Jolie






Sarah Jessica Parker